May 17, 2015 -- Three of the six drivers who started the day ahead of him in the Mello Yello driver standings bowed out in the very first round of Sunday’s 35th annual Summit Racing Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, but an exasperated Steve Torrence could not take advantage at the wheel of the Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster.

The No. 4 qualifier at a rock solid 3.796 seconds, Torrence never had a chance in Sunday’s opening round after his 10,000 horsepower hybrid lost traction on a tricky track surface, allowing Clay Millican to grab a relatively easy win in just 3.958 seconds.

As a result, instead of gaining ground on front runners Tony Schumacher, Spencer Massey and Shawn Langdon, all of whom were on the sidelines after the initial round, Torrence instead lost position to Millican and to three-time series champion Larry Dixon.

If there was a silver lining to an otherwise disappointing day, it was that the 32-year-old Texan won’t have long to think about what might have been. That’s because racing resumes in just five days when the NHRA tour moves on to Heartland Park-Topeka for the 27th annual Kansas Nationals.

“You don’t get chances like that every day,” Torrence said of the early exits enduring by Schumacher and the others. “When you do, you need to take advantage and we didn’t get it done. It’s frustrating. After a good qualifying effort, we were looking for a long work day.

“I’m just glad we have another race this week. At least we won’t have to sit around for three weeks and second guess ourselves.”

Although he moves on to Kansas in ninth place in points, Torrence is anything but disappointed.

“We know we’re a contender,” said the former Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion (2005), “but what happened today shows how competitive it is out there. There are 14 or 15 cars out there that can win and we’re all just kind of beating each other up. It’s gotta be somebody else’s turn in the barrel by now, though.”

At least someone at Team Capco had a reason to smile Sunday. Clutch specialist Gary Pritchett was able to watch his wife Leah drive the Dote Family Top Fuel dragster into the final round where she lost to No. 1 qualifier and point leader Antron Brown. It was Leah Pritchett’s first Top Fuel final.